Processes of producing reconstructed fruit have been known for a long time, made from fruit extracts or concentrates to which a gelatinizing substance containing an alginate is added.
The French patent No 2,087,852, for instance, describes pieces of reconstructed fruit made of substantially spherical bodies of a fruit concentrate featuring a gelled skin externally. According to the patent, the skin is made from a gel of a calcium or aluminum alginate or pectate. The French patent No 2,087,852 also covers a process for the processing of such reconstructed food products. According to this process, the first stage is to blend a solution of calcium or aluminum ions to the food; next, drops are formed from this mixed fluid and said drops are brought into contact with a bed of alginate or pectate in order to build said said external jelled skin.
This process does not produce reconstructed fruit that are core gelled and with the same consistence of the natural product. Moreover this process does not permit to add an alcoholic component to the fruit concentrate as alcohol would prevent the formation of the gelled skin.
The French patent No 2,114,706, describes reconstructed fruit which seem to be core gelled in part at least. The production process of reconstructed fruit according to this process basically consists of three stages as follows:
(a) To prepare a Mixture No 1 of alginate or low methoxypectate with a calcium compound that does not contain enough free calcium ions to initiate a gemation,
(b) To Mixture No 1, to add the fruit by-product in the presence of a gelling substance, more particularly an acid (malic acid 0.51%, ascorbic acid 0.10%, citric acid:1.20%) The purpose of the acid is to cause the release of the calcium ions from the calcium compound of Mixture No 1 (dicalcic phospahte),
(c) To allow the mixture (a)+(b) to gel.
Said patent discloses (on page 3, lines 23 thru 28) that, when mixtures (a) and (b) blend together, the gelation occuring between calcium and alginate ions is so fast that calcium cannot be distributed through the whole alginate mass before a substantial portion of gelation has taken place so that the resulting gel texture is very irregular. To remedy this, the patent proposes to complement the compound with an edible substance that inhibits calcium such as trisodic citrate. But this solution makes necessary to use special care in the preparation of the mixture of a.degree. and b.degree..
Moreover, practical tests have shown that despite the inhibiting substance, calcium and care taken at the mixing stage, the French patent No. 2,114,706 does not permit to obtain reconstructed fruit that is core-gelled uniformously as desired by the User.